U.S. patent number 8,543,813 [Application Number 12/892,996] was granted by the patent office on 2013-09-24 for method and apparatus to implement valid mobile ticket transfer.
This patent grant is currently assigned to International Business Machines Corporation. The grantee listed for this patent is Chen Hua Feng, He Yuan Huang, Xiao Xi Liu, Bin Wang. Invention is credited to Chen Hua Feng, He Yuan Huang, Xiao Xi Liu, Bin Wang.
United States Patent |
8,543,813 |
Feng , et al. |
September 24, 2013 |
Method and apparatus to implement valid mobile ticket transfer
Abstract
Computer-implemented methods and apparatus to perform a valid
transfer of an electronic mobile ticket on a mobile device by a
ticketing application system of a ticket processing center. One
method includes: receiving a first electronic message from a first
user, where the first message includes an encrypted electronic
mobile ticket and a mobile device number of a second user, and
where the electronic mobile ticket is encrypted with a key shared
between the first user and the ticketing application system;
decrypting the encrypted electronic mobile ticket; generating an
electronic mobile ticket encrypted with a key shared by the
ticketing application system and the second user; and transmitting
a second electronic message that includes the electronic mobile
ticket encrypted with the key shared between the ticketing
application system and the second user to a mobile device of the
second user.
Inventors: |
Feng; Chen Hua (Beijing,
CN), Huang; He Yuan (Beijing, CN), Liu;
Xiao Xi (Beijing, CN), Wang; Bin (Beijing,
CN) |
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Feng; Chen Hua
Huang; He Yuan
Liu; Xiao Xi
Wang; Bin |
Beijing
Beijing
Beijing
Beijing |
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A |
CN
CN
CN
CN |
|
|
Assignee: |
International Business Machines
Corporation (Armonk, NY)
|
Family
ID: |
43781612 |
Appl.
No.: |
12/892,996 |
Filed: |
September 29, 2010 |
Prior Publication Data
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Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
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US 20110078440 A1 |
Mar 31, 2011 |
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Foreign Application Priority Data
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Sep 29, 2009 [CN] |
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2009 1 0175687 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
713/160; 726/32;
726/26; 713/167; 705/50; 705/65; 726/31; 713/170; 705/67; 705/57;
705/66; 380/259; 726/27; 380/255; 713/162; 726/33; 705/64; 726/29;
726/10; 726/9; 705/51; 713/187; 705/59; 726/28; 380/260; 726/30;
713/171 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L
63/0442 (20130101); G06Q 10/02 (20130101); H04L
63/0435 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
H04L
29/06 (20060101) |
Field of
Search: |
;726/26-33,9-10
;713/188,159-181,187 ;705/50-59,64-67 ;380/255-263 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
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1653751 |
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Aug 2005 |
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CN |
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1439495 |
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Jul 2004 |
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EP |
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Other References
TTP: Secure ACID Transfer Protocol for Electronic Ticket between
Personal Tamper-proof Devices by Kuramitsu et al; Publisher: IEEE;
Year: 2000. cited by examiner .
On Designing a Flexible E-Payment System with Fraud Detection
Capability by Leung et al; Publisher: IEEE; Year: 2004. cited by
examiner .
Distributed Digital-Ticket Management for Rights Trading System by
Matsuyama et al; Publisher: ACM; Year: 1999. cited by examiner
.
Tripathi, et al., "Algorithms for validating E-tickets in mobile
computing environment," Information Sciences, vol. 179, Issue 11,
May 13, 2009, pp. 1678-1693. cited by applicant .
Chang, et al., "A Secure E-coupon System for Mobile Users," IJCSNS
International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security,
vol. 6 No. 1, Jan. 2006. cited by applicant .
Me, G., "An Asset Framework of M-ticketing," Proceedings of the 4th
IASTED International Multi-Conference Wireless and Optical
Communications, Jul. 8-10 2004. cited by applicant.
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Primary Examiner: Herzog; Madhuri
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Gibbons; Jon A. Fleit Gibbons
Gutman Bongini & Bianco PL
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A computer-implemented method for performing a valid transfer of
an electronic mobile ticket on a mobile device by a ticketing
application system of a ticket processing center, said method
comprising: receiving a first electronic message from a first user,
wherein said first electronic message includes an encrypted
electronic mobile ticket and a mobile device number of a second
user, and wherein said electronic mobile ticket is encrypted with a
key shared between said first user and said ticketing application
system; decrypting said encrypted electronic mobile ticket;
generating an electronic mobile ticket encrypted with a key shared
by said ticketing application system and said second user;
transmitting to the mobile device number of the second user, a
second electronic message that includes said electronic mobile
ticket encrypted with said key shared between said ticketing
application system and said second user to a mobile device of said
second user, wherein said second message is transmitted using a
short message service (SMS) with a flag in a message header to
indicate said SMS message includes an encrypted electronic mobile
ticket; transmitting a decryption command via SMS to said mobile
device of said second user to decrypt said electronic mobile ticket
encrypted using said key shared between said second user and said
ticketing application system; and in response to said decryption
command presenting on said mobile device of said second user said
encrypted electronic mobile ticket, based on said flag being
found.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: validating said
decrypted electronic mobile ticket by checking a status information
of an issued ticket.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: locking said
encrypted electronic mobile ticket included in said first
electronic message to forbid the use of said electronic mobile
ticket.
4. A computer-implemented method for performing a valid transfer of
an electronic mobile ticket on a mobile device by a ticketing
application system of a ticket processing center, said method
comprising: acquiring an electronic message, wherein said
electronic message includes an encrypted electronic mobile ticket
to be transmitted from a first user to a second user, and wherein
said electronic mobile ticket is encrypted with a key shared by
said first user and said ticketing application system; modifying a
target receiver of said electronic message in said ticketing
application system; adding a mobile device number of said second
user into said electronic message; transmitting said electronic
message that includes an encrypted electronic mobile ticket
encrypted using a key shared between said second user and said
ticketing application system and said mobile device number of said
second user to said ticketing application system to allow said
ticketing application system to implement a valid transfer of said
electronic mobile ticket, wherein said electronic message is
transmitted to a mobile device of said second user using a short
message service (SMS) with a flag in a message header to indicate
said SMS message includes an encrypted electronic mobile ticket;
transmitting a decryption command via SMS to said mobile device of
said second user to decrypt said electronic mobile ticket encrypted
using said key shared between said second user and said ticketing
application system; and in response to said decryption command
presenting on said mobile device of said second user said encrypted
electronic mobile ticket, based on said flag being found.
5. The method of claim 4, further comprising: encrypting said
mobile device number of said second user with said key shared by
said first user and said ticketing application system.
6. The method of claim 4, further comprising: determining whether
said electronic message has a plurality of target receivers before
said transmission of said electronic message, wherein said
transmission of said electronic message is performed if said
electronic message has said plurality of target receivers.
7. The method of claim 4, further comprising: determining whether
said electronic mobile ticket has been transmitted to another user
before said transmission of said electronic message, wherein said
transmission of said electronic message is performed if said
electronic mobile ticket has not been transmitted to said another
user.
8. The method of claim 4, further comprising: decrypting a second
encrypted electronic mobile ticket; and invalidating said decrypted
second electronic mobile ticket by adding a flag on said decrypted
second electronic mobile ticket.
9. A computer-implemented apparatus for performing a valid transfer
of an electronic mobile ticket on a mobile device by a ticketing
application system of a ticket processing center, said apparatus
comprising: a computer system with a receiving module for receiving
a first electronic message from a first user, wherein said first
electronic message includes an encrypted electronic mobile ticket
and a mobile device number of a second user, and wherein said
electronic mobile ticket is encrypted with a key shared between
said first user and said ticketing application system; a decryption
module for decrypting said encrypted electronic mobile ticket; a
generation module for generating an electronic mobile ticket
encrypted with a key shared by said ticketing application system
and said second user; a transmission module for transmitting a
second electronic message that includes said electronic mobile
ticket encrypted with said key shared between said ticketing
application system and said second user to a mobile device of said
second user, wherein said second electronic message is transmitted
using a short message service (SMS) with a flag in a message header
to indicate said SMS message includes an encrypted electronic
mobile ticket; transmitting a decryption command via SMS to said
mobile device of said second user to decrypt said electronic mobile
ticket encrypted using said key shared between said second user and
said ticketing application system; and in response to said
decryption command presenting on said mobile device of said second
user said encrypted electronic mobile ticket, based on said flag
being found.
10. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising: a validation
module for validating said decrypted electronic mobile ticket by
checking a status information of an issued ticket.
11. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising: a locking module
for locking said encrypted electronic mobile ticket included in
said first electronic message to forbid the use of said encrypted
electronic mobile ticket.
12. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising: an invalidation
module for setting a status of said encrypted electronic mobile
ticket included in said first electronic message from said first
user as invalid, wherein setting the status of said encrypted
electronic mobile ticket is performed after receiving an electronic
message receipt from said mobile device of said second user.
13. A computer-implemented apparatus for performing a valid
transfer of an electronic mobile ticket on a mobile device by a
ticketing application system of a ticket processing center, said
apparatus comprising: a computer system with an acquisition module
for acquiring an electronic message, wherein said electronic
message includes an encrypted electronic mobile ticket to be
transmitted from a first user to a second user, and wherein said
electronic mobile ticket is encrypted with a key shared by said
first user and said ticketing application system of said ticket
processing center; a modifying module for modifying a target
receiver of said electronic message in said ticketing application
system; an editing module for adding a mobile device number of said
second user into said electronic message; a transmission module for
transmitting said electronic message that includes an encrypted
electronic mobile ticket encrypted using a key shared between said
second user and said ticketing application system and said mobile
device number of said second user to said ticketing application
system to allow the ticketing application system to implement a
valid transfer of said electronic mobile ticket, wherein the second
message is transmitted using a short message service (SMS) with a
flag in a message header to indicate said SMS message includes an
encrypted electronic mobile ticket; transmitting a decryption
command via SMS to said mobile device of said second user to
decrypt said electronic mobile ticket encrypted using said key
shared between said second user and said ticketing application
system; and in response to said decryption command presenting on
said mobile device of said second user said encrypted electronic
mobile ticket, based on said flag being found.
14. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising: an encryption
module for encrypting said mobile device number of said second user
with said key shared by said first user and said ticketing
application system of said ticket processing center.
15. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising: a checking
module for determining whether said electronic message has a
plurality of target receivers before said transmission module
transmits said electronic message, wherein said transmission module
transmits said electronic message if said electronic message has
said plurality of target receivers.
16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein: said checking module
further determines whether said electronic mobile ticket has been
transmitted to another user before said transmission module
transmits said electronic message, and said transmission module
transmits said electronic message if said electronic mobile ticket
has not been transmitted to said another user.
17. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising: a decryption
module for decrypting a second encrypted electronic mobile ticket;
and an invalidation module for invalidating said decrypted second
electronic mobile ticket by adding a flag on said decrypted second
electronic mobile ticket.
18. A non-transitory article of manufacture tangibly embodying
computer readable instructions which when implemented, causes a
computer to carry out the steps of a computer-implemented method
for performing a valid transfer of an electronic mobile ticket on a
mobile device by a ticketing application system of a ticket
processing center according to claim 1.
19. A non-transitory article of manufacture tangibly embodying
computer readable instructions which when implemented, causes a
computer to carry out the steps of a computer-implemented method
for performing a valid transfer of an electronic mobile ticket on a
mobile device by a ticketing application system of a ticket
processing center according to claim 4.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. .sctn.119 to
Chinese Patent Application No. 200910175687.1 filed Sep. 29, 2009,
the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference
herein.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mobile ticketing, and more
particularly, to a method and apparatus to implement a valid mobile
ticket transfer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mobile ticketing refers to the process of when a customer uses a
mobile phone or other mobile devices to book, pay, obtain and check
a ticket. It represents an ever-increasing emerging market. Mobile
tickets include transportation mobile tickets, sports mobile
tickets, entertainment and events mobile tickets and the like.
Compared with traditional tickets that are printed on paper,
electronic mobile tickets have the advantages of saving ticket
printing and mailing costs, improving a customer's convenience, and
reducing infrastructure costs.
The delivery of tickets to mobile devices is typically made by text
messaging or by picture messaging. In text messaging, as an
example, a text message that includes the ticket number can be
delivered to a mobile device in the manner of SMS or WAP Push.
Ticket checking is performed by a manual visual checking or optical
character recognition (OCR).
In picture messaging, as an example, a message that includes a
two-dimensional barcode image can be transmitted to a mobile device
in the manner of SMS or MMS. In such a manner, the image in the
message is scanned by a laser scanner or a camera-based imager and
is decoded into a ticket ID.
The file or image message transmitted in the above manners can be
received and processed either by a general-purpose mobile
application system (e.g., an existing text or image message
receiving client), or by a dedicated mobile application system.
In the existing mobile ticketing systems, checking mobile tickets
mainly depends on an OCR or other image photographic devices.
Therefore, the SMS/MMS message per se is the unique evidence that
proves ticket ownership. Since the SMS/MMS message can be forwarded
to others, if the ticket holder forwards the related SMS/MMS
message to many other people, then it is difficult to determine
which receiver should be regarded as the valid holder.
A current solution is to embed the buyer's identity information
into the ticket. However, when the scanner identifies the ticket
information during the ticket checking process, it shows the
buyer's identity information, and the buyer is required to show
his/her identity card to prove that he/she is the legitimate holder
of the ticket. Such a solution will not only bring inconvenience to
the checking and use of the ticket, making the ticket checking
process slower, but also is inconvenient for a valid transfer of
the ticket.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to one aspect of the present invention, a
computer-implemented method is provided for performing a valid
transfer of an electronic mobile ticket on a mobile device by a
ticketing application system of a ticket processing center. The
method includes: receiving a first electronic message from a first
user, where the first message includes an encrypted electronic
mobile ticket and a mobile device number of a second user, and
where the electronic mobile ticket is encrypted with a key shared
between the first user and the ticketing application system;
decrypting the encrypted electronic mobile ticket; generating an
electronic mobile ticket encrypted with a key shared by the
ticketing application system and the second user; and transmitting
a second electronic message that includes the electronic mobile
ticket encrypted with the key shared between the ticketing
application system and the second user to a mobile device of the
second user.
In another aspect of the present invention, a computer-implemented
method is provided for performing a valid transfer of an electronic
mobile ticket on a mobile device by a ticketing application of a
ticket processing center that includes: acquiring an electronic
message, where the electronic message includes an encrypted
electronic mobile ticket to be transmitted from a first user to a
second user, and where the electronic mobile ticket is encrypted
with a key shared by the first user and the ticketing application
system; modifying a target receiver of the electronic message in
the ticketing application system; adding a mobile device number of
the second user into the electronic message; and transmitting the
message that includes the encrypted electronic mobile ticket and
the mobile device number of the second user to the ticketing
application system to allow the ticketing application system to
implement a valid transfer of the electronic mobile ticket.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, a
computer-implemented apparatus is provided for performing a valid
transfer of an electronic mobile ticket on a mobile device by a
ticketing application system of a ticket processing center. The
apparatus includes: a receiving module for receiving a first
electronic message from a first user, where the first electronic
message includes an encrypted electronic mobile ticket and a mobile
device number of a second user, and where the electronic mobile
ticket is encrypted with a key shared between the first user and
the ticketing application system; a decryption module for
decrypting the encrypted electronic mobile ticket; a generation
module for generating an electronic mobile ticket encrypted with a
key shared by the ticketing application system and the second user;
and a transmission module for transmitting a second electronic
message that includes the electronic mobile ticket encrypted with
the key shared between the ticketing application system and the
second user to a mobile device of the second user.
In still another aspect of the present invention, a
computer-implemented apparatus is provided for performing a valid
transfer of an electronic mobile ticket on a mobile device by a
ticketing application system of a ticket processing center that
includes: an acquisition module for acquiring an electronic
message, where the electronic message includes an encrypted
electronic mobile ticket to be transmitted from a first user to a
second user, and where the electronic mobile ticket is encrypted
with a key shared by the first user and the ticketing application
system; a modifying module for modifying a target receiver of the
electronic message in the ticketing application system; an editing
module for adding a mobile device number of the second user into
the electronic message; and a transmission module for transmitting
the electronic message that includes the encrypted electronic
mobile ticket and the mobile device number of the second user to
the ticketing application system to allow the ticketing application
system to implement a valid transfer of the electronic mobile
ticket.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a ticket purchase and use process
according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 schematically illustrates the principle of preventing an
invalid ticket transfer according to an embodiment of the present
invention;
FIG. 3 schematically shows a ticket transfer process according to
an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 4 schematically shows the architecture of a system to
implement valid ticket transfer according to an embodiment of the
present invention;
FIG. 5 schematically shows operations of the respective modules of
the system to implement valid mobile ticket transfer at the ticket
processing center during the purchase process according to an
embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 6 schematically shows operations of the respective modules of
the system to implement valid mobile ticket transfer at mobile
application during the ticket checking process according to an
embodiment of the present invention; and
FIG. 7 schematically shows operations of the respective modules of
the system to implement valid mobile ticket transfer during the
ticket transfer process according to an embodiment of the present
invention;
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The embodiments of the present invention will now be described with
reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following
description, numerous details are described to enable the present
invention to be fully understood. However, it is obvious to those
skilled in the art that the realization of the present invention
can exclude some of these details. In addition, it should be
appreciated that the present invention is not limited to the
described specific embodiments. In contrast, it is contemplated to
implement the present invention by using any combination of the
following features and elements, no matter whether they involve
different embodiments or not. Therefore, the following aspects,
features, embodiments and advantages are only illustrative, rather
than elements or limitations of the appended claims, unless
explicitly stated otherwise in the claims.
The present invention involves encrypting the mobile ticket by a
ticket processing center, which can only be decrypted by the target
mobile application system. When the ticket is transferred, the
telephone number of the receiver is modified by the mobile
application system, so that the transferred ticket is sent to the
ticket processing center. The ticket processing center decrypts the
received ticket and generates a new encrypted ticket for the new
mobile user.
Referring to FIG. 1, the schematic illustration shows a ticket
purchase and a use process according to an embodiment of the
present invention. As shown, in step 1, the user A issues a
purchase request to the ticket processing center. The ticket
processing center is an agency for issuing tickets, and can be a
ticket service provider (SP) or an independent agency for providing
ticket issuing services for a number of ticket service
providers.
In step 2, the ticket processing center transmits the encrypted
ticket to the mobile device of user A, e.g., a mobile telephone,
through the mobile infrastructure. The ticket processing center can
transmit the encrypted ticket in the form of a SMS or MMS message,
i.e., including the ticket in the SMS or MMS message. As known by
those skilled in the art, the mobile infrastructure usually
includes devices like mobile phone base stations and SMS centers.
In addition, as known by those skilled in the art, before
transmission, the message in the text form will be encoded into a
binary code format, and after receipt, the message of the binary
code form will be decoded into the text format.
In the embodiment of the present invention, the ticket processing
center can encrypt the ticket by a symmetric encryption algorithm,
and the key is shared between the ticket processing center and the
mobile ticket program of the user A.
Many key generation methods can be used to generate the key. For
example, one key generation method can be based on the information
commonly known by the ticket processing center and the mobile
application system of a specific user, e.g., the telephone number
of the sender and the telephone number of the receiver; and the key
generation formula can be Key=md5(SP_No+userA_No). Of course, as
known by those skilled in the art, the key generation formula can
also use other encryption algorithm besides md5, e.g., HMAC,
etc.
As another example, the ticket processing center can generate and
provide a unique number (e.g., a register number) for a specific
user when the user downloads or installs the mobile application
system. Then, the unique register number will become the
information commonly known by the ticket processing center and the
mobile application system of the specific user, and a key may be
generated by the information.
Another type of key generation method can be, when each mobile
application system is downloaded or installed, the user is required
to register a password with the ticket processing center. The
password is only known by the ticket processing center and the
user, and thus it can be used to generate a shared key. Another key
generation method can be based on a dynamic key generation
algorithm, e.g., Diffie-Hellman, etc.
In other aspects of the present invention, the public key
encryption algorithm can be used to encrypt the ticket. For
example, the ticket processing center uses a public key of the
specific user to encrypt the ticket, so that only the specific user
can use his/her private key to decrypt the ticket.
In step 3, the user A uses the ticket, i.e., checks the ticket at
the ticket check point. Since the mobile application system knows
the correct key, it can decrypt successfully. For example, the
mobile application system can use the telephone number of the
message sender and the its own telephone number, that is, the
number of ticket processing center and the number of the user A, to
generate a key for decryption by the key generation formula,
Key=md5(MsgSender_No+Self_No)=md5(SP_NO+userA-No). Of course, the
mobile application system can also use other methods to generate or
get the correct key.
In step 4, the checking device at the ticket check point scans or
validates the decrypted ticket. The scanning and validation method
can be the same as that in the prior art. For example, the checking
device can determine whether the ticket is a valid ticket by
comparing the scanned ticket information with the ticket repository
in the ticket processing center, so as to implement validating the
ticket. Then, the checking device can transmit the information of
the scanned and validated ticket to the ticket processing center,
and mark the status of the ticket as invalid in the ticket
repository for recording the issued tickets and their status
information, for future validation.
In an optional step 5, when the user has used the ticket, the
mobile application system can set a flag of used or invalid for the
ticket.
Referring to FIG. 2, a schematic illustration shows the prevention
of an invalid ticket transfer according to an embodiment of the
present invention.
As shown, in step 1, if the user A attempts to make an invalid
transfer of the encrypted ticket to the user B (e.g., directly
transmitting the encrypted ticket to the user B by bypassing the
ticket transfer mechanism of the present application system as
described below), the encrypted ticket is transmitted to the mobile
device of the user B through the mobile infrastructure. The ticket
was encrypted by the key shared between the ticket processing
center and the mobile application system of the user A. For
example, the key can be generated by the formula,
Key=md5(SP_No+UserA_No), where the SP_No is the telephone number of
the ticket processing center, and UserA_No is the telephone number
of the user A.
In step 2, the mobile application system of the user B tries to
decrypt the encrypted ticket, so as to use it at the ticket check
point. However, since the key of the encrypted ticket is shared
between the user A and the ticket processing center, the mobile
application system of the user B cannot use the key. Therefore, the
mobile application system of the user B cannot decrypt or use the
ticket. For example, the mobile application system of the user B
can attempt to generate the key according to the telephone number
of the message sender and its own telephone number; however, here,
the telephone number of the message sender is the telephone number
of the user A, its own telephone number is the telephone number of
the user B, and the two does not equal to the telephone number of
the ticket processing center and the telephone number of the user A
which were used originally when generating the key for encrypting
the ticket, that is:
Key=md5(MsgeSender_No+Self_No)!=md5(SP_No+userA-No). Therefore, the
generated key cannot decrypt the encrypted ticket. As such, the
ticket holder is prevented from invalidly transferring his
ticket.
FIG. 3 shows a ticket transfer process according to an embodiment
of the present invention.
As shown, in step 1, in order to transfer the encrypted ticket to
user B, user A transmits the message including the encrypted ticket
to the user B, where the mobile application system of the user A
modifies the receiver number from the telephone number of the user
B to the telephone number of the ticket processing center, and
encodes the telephone number of the user B together with the ticket
number, by which the message that includes the encrypted ticket and
the telephone number of the user B will be sent to the ticket
processing center through the mobile infrastructure, rather than
directly transmitted to the mobile device of the user B.
Preferably, before transmitting the message, the mobile application
system of the user A further encrypts the telephone number of the
user B or the message including the telephone number of the user B
and the ticket, and the encryption is performed with the key shared
between the user A and the ticket processing center. The above
modifying, encoding and encryption processes can be automatically
performed by the mobile application system of the user A and are
transparent to the user A.
After receiving the above message from the user A, the ticketing
application system of the ticket processing center performs the
following operations.
First, the encrypted ticket from the user A is decrypted and
validated. Since the ticketing application system of the ticket
processing center knows the key shared between the user A and the
ticket processing center, the ticketing application system can
decrypt the encrypted ticket from the user A. The ticketing
application system may determine whether the decrypted key is a
valid ticket by checking the status of the ticket in the ticket
repository for maintaining the issued tickets and the respective
status information, so as to implement the validation of the
ticket.
Then, the ticketing application system of the ticket processing
center locks the ticket from the user A which has been decrypted
and validated, which can be done by setting the status of the
ticket as locked in the ticket repository for maintaining the
issued tickets and their status information. During the locked
period, the ticket cannot be used.
Next, the ticketing application system of the ticket process center
may use the key shared between the ticket processing center and the
user B to encrypt the ticket to generate a new encrypted ticket; or
a new ticket is generated for the user B first, and then the new
ticket is encrypted with the key shared between the ticket
processing center and user B, so as to generate a new encrypted
ticket.
In step 2, the ticket processing center transmits the generated new
encrypted ticket to the mobile device of the user B.
In step 3, the mobile infrastructure (e.g., the SMS center therein)
transmits a message receipt from the user B to the ticketing
application system of the ticket processing center. Optionally,
after the ticketing application system of the ticket processing
center receives the message receipt, it invalidates the original
ticket from the user A. The ticketing application system can
invalidate the ticket by modifying the status of the ticket into
invalid in the ticket repository.
In step 4, the user B can use the decrypted new encrypted ticket at
the ticket check point. The mobile application system of the user B
may use the key shared between it and the ticket processing center
to decrypt the new encrypted ticket. For example, the calculation
formula of the key can be
Key=md5(MsgSender_No+Self_No)=md5(SP_No+userB_No).
If the mobile telephone user A, after receiving the encrypted
mobile ticket from the ticket processing center, first decrypts the
mobile ticket by an invalid means, and then transmits the decrypted
mobile ticket to other users, an invalid transfer of the mobile
ticket may occur multiple times.
Rules of mobile ticketing service can be formulated to indicate
which transfers of a decrypted mobile ticket are invalid. When a
user decrypts the ticket (regardless of whether this occurs during
the ticket checking process or at other times), a flag indicting
that the ticket has been used (e.g., text description or other
invalid flag to indicate that the ticket has been used) can be
added on the ticket by the mobile application system. Then the
users receiving the decrypted and transferred ticket can readily
detect that the ticket is invalid.
As another example, the mobile application system of the user can
be customized such that the system is unable to decrypt after
receiving the encrypted mobile ticket, even if it knows the correct
key, and only allow the user to view the related information of the
ticket; and during the ticket checking process, the ticket
processing center transmits a decryption command to the user in the
form of a SMS message, etc., and the ticket is decrypted and
presented to the ticket checking device at the ticket check point
only when the mobile application system of the user receives the
decryption command.
Above is described the ticket purchase, use and transfer processes
according to an embodiment of the present invention. It should be
pointed out that the above description is only an exemplary
description of the present invention. For example, the arrangement
and the message transmission sequence among the SMS center, the
mobile telephone base station and other devices are only
exemplary.
Now referring to FIG. 4, the schematic shows the architecture of a
computer system that detects a valid ticket transfer according to
another embodiment of the present invention;
As shown, the system includes the two parts of the ticketing
application system 410 of the ticket processing center, and the
mobile application system 430. The ticketing application system 410
of the ticket processing center includes a receiving module 411, an
extraction module 412, a decryption mould 413, a validation module
414, a locking module 415, a ticket repository 416, a generation
module 417, an encryption module 418, a transmission module 419 and
an invalidation module 420. The receiving module 411, the ticket
repository 416, the generation module 417, the transmission module
419 may be respective modules in the prior art. The extraction
module 412, the validation module 414, the locking module 415, the
ticket repository 416, the invalidation module 420 are all optional
modules. The system can further include other modules not shown,
for example, a key generation module for generating a key for
encrypting a mobile ticket. The ticketing application system 410 of
the ticket processing center and the mobile application system 430
can communicate with each other through existing mobile
infrastructures.
The mobile application system 430 includes a positioning module
431, a presentation module 432, a decryption module 433, an
invalidation module 434, an acquisition module 435, a modifying
module 436, an editing module 437, a checking module 438, an
encryption module 439, a transmission module 440. The positioning
module 431, the presentation module 432 and the transmission module
440 can be respective modules in the prior art.
Now referring to FIG. 5, it schematically shows operations of the
respective modules of the system to detect a valid mobile ticket
transfer at the ticket processing center during the purchase
process according to the embodiment of the present invention.
As shown, the end user transmits a purchase request to the ticket
processing center, the purchase request including related
information of the ticket to be purchased by the user, as well as
the mobile telephone number of the user. The purchase request can
be sent in the form of a Web SMS.
The receiving module 411 in the ticketing application system of the
ticket processing center receives the purchase request and
transmits it to the generation module 417.
The generation module 417 generates a mobile ticket according to
the purchase request and provides it to the encryption module 418
to encrypt, so as to generate a message including the encrypted
mobile ticket, and then transmits the message including the
encrypted mobile ticket to the transmission module 419, where the
encryption module 419 can use a key shared between the end user and
the ticket processing center to encrypt the mobile ticket. The key
can be generated by a key generation module, which is not shown
using any one of the above-described key generation methods, e.g.,
by using the mobile telephone number of the user included in the
purchase request and the telephone number of the ticket processing
center.
The generation module 417 can store the generated mobile ticket and
its status into the ticket repository 416.
The transmission module 419 can transmit the message including the
encrypted mobile ticket to the end user.
Now referring to FIG. 6, it schematically shows operations of the
modules of the system to detect a valid mobile ticket transfer at
the mobile application system during the ticket checking process
according to the embodiment of the present invention.
As shown, the end user A issues an instruction for presenting the
mobile ticket to the presentation module 432 in the mobile
application system 430.
The presentation module 432 issues an instruction for searching the
mobile ticket to the positioning module 431, and the positioning
module 431 finds the message including the mobile ticket and
provides it to the presentation module. For example, the mobile
ticket may be transmitted in the form of an MMS message, and it can
include a specific flag in its message header to indicate that the
message includes a mobile ticket. In this way, the positioning
module 431 can find out all the messages including a mobile ticket
by looking up the flag in the MMS message inbox of the user's
mobile telephone.
The presentation module 432 provides the message including the
mobile ticket to the decryption module 433 for decryption. The
decryption module 433 can use a key shared between the end user A
and the ticket processing center to decrypt the mobile ticket,
where the key can be the same as or correspond to the key
previously used for encrypting the mobile ticket in the ticket
processing center. The key can be generated by a key generation
module which is not shown.
The decryption module 433 can provide the decrypted ticket to the
presentation module 432. The presentation module 432 can present
the decrypted ticket to the ticket checking device at the ticket
check point. The ticket checking device can check the decrypted
ticket.
After the checking is passed, the ticket can be invalidated by the
invalidation module 434 in the mobile application, which can be
done by adding or setting a flag of used or invalidated on the
ticket.
Now referring to FIG. 7, it schematically shows operations of the
modules of the system to detect a valid mobile ticket transfer
during the ticket transfer process according to the embodiment of
the present invention.
As shown, when the user A transmits the message including the
mobile ticket to the user B in order to transfer the mobile ticket
to the user B, the acquisition module 435 in the mobile application
system 430 of the user A can acquire the mobile ticket message.
Then, the modifying module 436 can modify the receiver's telephone
number in the mobile ticket message from the mobile telephone
number of the user B to the telephone number of the ticket
processing center, and the editing module 437 may edit the mobile
ticket message to embed the mobile telephone number of the user B
into the message. The operations of acquisition, modifying the
number and the editing can be performed in a manner completely
transparent to the user A.
Then, the checking module 438 can check whether the mobile ticket
message has a plurality of receivers, and if it does, forbid the
transmission of the mobile ticket message, and optionally indicate
to the user A that the same mobile ticket cannot be transferred to
a plurality of receivers. The checking module 438 can further check
whether the mobile ticket includes the flag indicating that the
mobile ticket has been transferred, and when the mobile ticket
includes the flag, forbid the transmission of the mobile ticket
message. In such a situation, whenever the mobile ticket message is
successfully transmitted, a flag indicating that the mobile ticket
has been transferred should be set in the mobile ticket.
The checking module 438 can also check whether the ticket message
has a plurality of receivers, or has been transferred, before the
modifying module 436 modifies the receiver number and the editing
module 437 edits the ticket message.
Then, the encryption module 439 can use the key shared between the
user terminal A and the ticket processing center to encrypt the
telephone number of the user B included in the modified and edited
mobile ticket message or the entire mobile ticket. The key can be
generated by a key generation module (not shown), which can use
information commonly known by the user terminal A and the ticket
processing center (e.g., the telephone number of the end user A and
the telephone number of the ticket processing center) to generate
the key, or use other methods described above to generate the
key.
Then, the transmission module 440 transmits the modified, edited
and encrypted mobile ticket message to the ticket processing
center, e.g. in the form of an SMS/MMS message. In the transmitted
ticket message, the encrypted ticket information and the mobile
telephone number of the user B are included.
After the receiving module 411 in the ticket application system 440
of the ticket processing center receives the ticket message from
the end user A, it provides the message to the extraction module
412. The extraction module 412 decodes the encrypted mobile ticket
and the mobile telephone number of the user B from the ticket
message, and transmits the encrypted mobile ticket to the
decryption module 413 for decryption. The decryption module 413 can
use the key shared between the user terminal A and the mobile
processing ticket to decrypt the mobile ticket, where the key is
the same as or corresponds to that which is used for encrypting the
ticket message at the mobile application system of the user A. The
key can be generated by a key generation module (not shown) or
obtained by other means. The validation module 414 can validate the
decrypted mobile ticket to verify whether it is a valid mobile
ticket, which can be done by looking up the ticket repository 416
for maintaining the issued tickets and their status
information.
After the ticket validation, the locking module 415 locks the
mobile ticket to make it unusable. The locking module can do this
by setting the status of the mobile ticket as locked in the ticket
repository 416.
Then, the validation module 414 or another module can transmit the
decrypted ticket information and the mobile telephone number of the
user B to the generation module 417. The generation module 417 can
transmit the decrypted mobile ticket to the encryption module 418
for encryption. The encryption module 418 can use the key shared
between the ticket service provider and the user B to encrypt the
mobile ticket. The key can be generated by a key generation module
(not shown) according to information commonly known by the ticket
processing center and the user B (e.g., the telephone numbers of
the ticket processing center and the user B), or in other manners
described above. Further, the generation module 417 can generate a
message including the encrypted mobile ticket.
Then, the generation module 417 can store the mobile ticket and its
status into the ticket repository, and transmit the generated
message including the new encrypted mobile ticket to the
transmission module 419.
The transmission module 419 can transmit the ticket message to the
user B. When the ticketing application system 410 receives a
message receipt from the user B, the status of the original mobile
ticket can be modified to be invalid by the invalidation module
420. This can be done by modifying the status of the original
mobile ticket as invalid in the ticket repository.
Above is described, the modules and their operations in the system
to detect a valid ticket transfer according to the embodiment of
the present invention by referring to the accompanying drawings. It
should be pointed out that the above description and the
illustration are only exemplary. In other embodiments of the
present invention, the system can have more, less or different
modules, and the operations of the modules and the relationships
therebetween can be different from that is described and
illustrated.
In some embodiments of the present invention, the mobile
application system 430 can exclude one or more of the positioning
module 431, the presentation module 432, the decryption module 433,
the invalidation module 434, the checking module 438 and the
encryption module 439. In other embodiments of the present
invention, the mobile application system 430 can further include
some other modules not shown in the drawings, e.g., a receiving
module for receiving a decryption command from the ticket
processing center. In such embodiments of the present invention,
the decryption module 433 can decrypt the mobile ticket in response
to the received decryption command.
In some embodiments of the present invention, the ticketing
application system 410 of the ticket processing center can exclude
one or more of the extraction module 412, the validation module
414, the locking module 415, the ticket repository 416 and the
invalidation module 420. In other embodiments of the present
invention, the ticketing application system 410 can further include
a purchase processor and a transfer request processor for
coordinating the operations of the modules so as to process the
ticket purchase request or ticket transfer request from the user
mobile device respectively, and so on.
All these variations are within the sprit and scope of the present
invention. In addition, the names of the modules are specified only
for the convenience of convenience, and not limitation to the
present invention.
In the foregoing, the symmetric key encryption system is used by
example to describe the technical solution of the present
invention. However, as can be understood by those skilled in the
art, the technical solution of the present invention is also
suitable for using, for example, a non-symmetric key encryption
system (which includes a public key and a private key).
In the case of using the non-symmetric key encryption system, when
the mobile ticket or message is encrypted, the public key of the
target receiver of the mobile ticket or the message is used to
encrypt the mobile ticket or message, and the target receiver
decrypts the mobile ticket or message with his private key after
receiving the mobile ticket or message. This can ensure that the
mobile ticket or message can only be decrypted or used by its
target receiver. In the case of using the non-symmetric key
encryption system, in order to make sure that the target receiver
of the mobile ticket or the message that the mobile ticket or
message is from an expected transmitter, the transmitter can
further perform a digital signature to the mobile ticket or message
before transmitting the mobile ticket or message, that is, after a
hash value of the mobile ticket or message is generated, the
transmitter's private key is used to encrypt the hash value to get
the digital signature, and then the digital signature is
transmitted to the target receiver together with the encrypted
mobile ticket or message. After the target receiver receives the
encrypted mobile ticket or message and the digital signature, the
expected transmitter's public key can be used to decrypt the
digital signature, so as to get the original hash value; in the
mean time, the same hash algorithm is used to perform hash
operation on the received mobile ticket or message to get a hash
value. Then, the two hash values are compared with each other, and
if the two are equal, this indicates that the mobile ticket or
message does come from the expected receiver.
Since the technical solution of the invention uses the key shared
between the ticket processing center and the target user to encrypt
the mobile ticket, the mobile ticket can only be used by the target
user, so that an invalid transfer of the mobile ticket is
effectively prevented, and the target user can be sure that the
mobile ticket is issued by the ticket processing center. In the
mean time, a mechanism of valid transfer of the mobile ticket is
provided, where by automatically modifying the target receiver of
the mobile ticket transfer message from the target transferred user
to the ticket processing center at the mobile application system of
the user, and by generating a new encrypted ticket by the ticket
processing center to be sent to the target transferred user, the
valid transfer of the mobile ticket is facilitated.
In addition, the technical solution of the present invention adds
modules for encryption, decryption and transfer processing at the
ticket processing center and the mobile application system of the
mobile telephone user, without making any modifications to the
existing ticket checking mechanism and the terminal as well as the
mobile infrastructures, and thus it is a low-cost and non-invasive
solution.
Embodiments of the present invention can be implemented in
hardware, software, or a combination thereof. The embodiments of
the present invention can be implemented in a computer system in a
centralized manner, or in a distributed manner, in which, different
components are distributed in some interconnected computer system.
A computer system or other devices suitable for executing the
method described herein are appropriate. A typical combination of
hardware and software can be a computer system with a computer
program, which when being loaded and executed, controls the
computer system to execute the method of the present invention, and
constitute the apparatus of the present invention.
The present invention can also be embodied in a computer program
product, which can implement all the features of the method
described herein, and when being loaded into a computer system, can
execute the method.
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